Simulation/Gaming and the Acquisition of Communicative Competence in Another Language

Abstract

For more than three decades, researchers and practitioners in the field of English as a foreign language have faced the issue of communicative competence as a goal in language acquisition and how to reach this goal. In this article, the authors address the issue from the point of view of a theoretical and practical meshing of simulation and gaming methodology with theories of foreign language acquisition, including task-based learning, interaction, and comprehensible input, showing how simulation and gaming can be used in those phases of language acquisition in which formal instruction has proved less ineffectual. The objective of this article is to describe the close relationship between the acquisition of foreign language competence and its components and experiential learning through simulation and gaming, with specific reference to two experiments in this area.